Date: April 1955

Ranch/Country of Origin: Mrs B Wilson, California USA

History: First appeared in April 1955 on the Wilson ranch. The entire herd (including the white mutation) was then sold to a Dr. F Buttons in Colorado in 1957. He soon ascertained that this was an incomplete dominant mutation with a lethal factor.

Appearance/Characteristics: Heavily affected by any standard genes, this mutation may range from an almost pure white to a silver colour almost as dark as very light standards. It also has a tendency towards spotting and uneven veiling - causing irregular patches of grey to appear in an otherwise white coat, giving an attractive "mottled" appearance. This phenomenon is known as "linkage" of the relevant chromosomes. They have standard (dark) eyes and ears.

Wilson white can be combined with other colours to achieve various results. Here are a few examples:

Other Names: White, Silver, Mosaic.

Date: 1955

Ranch/Country of Origin: Herb Chase Chinchilla Operation, Utah, USA.

History: First appeared in 1955 on the Herb Chase Ranch. The entire herd was then sold to a Mr B Gunning in 1956. This herd included a young female chinchilla called "Dirty Face" bearing the Ranch Number of EHC B-46. Mr Gunning took an interest in this strangely-marked female and decided to try to develop this colour. The rest, as they say, is history!!

Appearance/Characteristics: The black velvet should have dense, blue-black fur over the entire head, face and back, extending down the flanks until it meets with clear standard fur and then onto a pure white belly. It is a very striking and beautiful mutation. It is a dominant mutation with a lethal factor.

Black Velvet can be combined with other colours to achieve various results. Here are a few examples:

Other Names: TOV, Velvet, Gunning Black.

Date: September 29^th, 1955

Ranch/Country of Origin: Ned Jensen Farm, Oregon, USA.

History: First appeared in 1955 on the Jensons Farm. An average-sized female was born to grey parents. She bore the ranch number DD-B4. For 3 years the Jensons attempted to breed from her, to no avail. In time, the Jensons sold their ranch and offered the entire stock to a friend of theirs, called Nick Tower. On June 14^th 1958 Mr Tower accepted their offer. It transpired that the unusual-coloured female was a maloccluder, and in poor health. Mr Tower spent a great deal of time and effort on the female in an attempt to get her healthy enough to get her to breed from. She required hormone injections to initiate oestrus and was given the choice of mates (using an old-fashioned breeding technique). Eventually she bred with her brother, ranch number V8-B108. On April 18^th 1959, she finally gave birth to a beige male kit, V8-F11. The rest of her life was fraught with health problems and she finally died in August 1960 having only ever littered the one beige male. It was this male that founded one of the most popular mutation chinchillas seen nowadays.

Appearance/Characteristics: The beige is also a dominant mutation, but it differs from Black Velvet and Wilson White, in that it is viable in both a heterozygous and a homozygous form (it has not lethal factor). In the homozygous form, it is a very pale "sandy" colour, with white underfur and a white belly. It has pale pink eyes. The heterozygous form is darker beige/tan, with a white belly. It has ruby eyes.

Beige can be combined with other colours to achieve various results. Here are a few examples:

Other Names: Tower Beige, Blond, "Crown of Sunset" Beige.